10 – 13 October 2017

Travelling south from Townsville our next major stop was at Airlie Beach, another popular tourist destination for accessing the Great Barrier Reef. The area is known as the Whitsunday Region for the Whitsunday Islands between the coast and the Great Barrier Reef. The town of Airlie Beach and neighboring Cannonvale and Jubilee Pocket provide a great base camp for venturing into the islands and reef. It offers all the amenities you’d expect in any small town. We spent one full day on an island tour that included Hamilton Island and Whitehaven Beach and another full day on a tour to Hardy Reef. Both cruises departed from Port of Airlie, an easy walk to the edge of town.

Airlie has a very nice lagoon pool, rivaling that of Cairns, however we ran out of time to swim. It is a fun little beach town that I wished we had one more day to spend.